The Brunette from Hell
by Tashhhh
Summary: Two years after the end of the movie, Kohaku comes to visit Chihiro, but is horrified to find her abusing her parents and being mean to other kids.
1. Prologueish

Spirited Away fanfiction

by TASHHHH!

I think this is short enough to be called a Prologue. not much happens.

K+ rating: may change to T, I have no idea what will happen in this screwed up plotline.

Ok, this is a weird one and I have no idea where it's going. I got this idea from a dream I had and I thought it seemed pretty cool at the time. After analyzing the premise for a few minutes, I realized with a giggle that it actually DOES involve Chihiro not remembering the spirit world, and Chihiro being depressed. Well, I'm not making myself sound any more credible, I'll shut up now.

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><p>Prologue-ish<p>

It was time for Chihiro to go back to her own world. Kohaku followed her and held her hand as he savored what may have been his last minutes with her. He had a lot of possibilities laid out for him now that he had his name and memories again, but one thing that was clear was that he could not follow her this way, this time.

He promised her they would meet again, surprising himself in his hopeful declaration. Then he uttered his famous last words, "go and don't look back."

His last words rang in Chihiro's mind as she ran off to begin her new life. For a minute as she approached the red archway, there was something that felt like a falter in the resolve of both parties. She hesitated, as if she was thinking of looking back, but then she kept on running. At the same time, Kohaku silently came to the realization that nothing could be the same for either of them now.

But instead of turning to brood on the personal loss of his new best friend, Kohaku looked up as he heard Chihiro's voice. Chihiro had yelled in surprise and turned back around to look at Kohaku. The red building was gone, and instead there was a huge chasm and a sea of endless blue sky as if they were standing on the end of the earth. Kohaku cursed in surprise, and ran forward to retrieve her as the earth underneath her began to disintegrate. Even though he used magic to accelerate himself as he extended his arm to her, when he was about to catch her, she fell down among the falling rubble of the edge of the universe.

"Ok... that was... odd." Kohaku woke up in his room in the cottage of the witch who lived at swamp bottom, slightly perturbed. That was really not the type of dream he was expecting to have, considering he was really looking forward to today, in fact a lot more that he had been looking forward to any day recently.

Today was the day when finally, after over 2 years of training, studying, and research, Kohaku was ready to venture once again into the realm of the mortals, the Human world.

Haku got up out of his bed, dressed himself, made his bed and left several jars of rare dried herbs as a gift. Then he opened the window, and flew out into the morning breeze and the brilliant sun, remembering his own last words and never once looking back.

"Chihiro, I'm on my way!" he thought as he soared a little higher than usual. Then he swerved out of the path of a flock of sparrows, and dropped back to his normal traveling altitude.

He flew on right through the red tunnel, gliding seamlessly from one world to the next.

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><p>This is a fan-based story, not associated with or sponsered by studio Ghibli or any of the producers of Spirited Away.<p> 


	2. Middle School Blues

Spirited Away Fanfiction - "The Brunette From Hell"

by TASHHHH

I don't want to spoil the surprise, so I'll blab at the end instead.

[REPLY]

to Savvyzzzz: :'D

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><p>CHAPTER 2 - Middle School Blues<p>

13-year old Kumakura Mariko sat on the train quietly. She lightly skimmed the pages of the novel in her hands, which she intended to drop off at the school library before class started that morning.

The train stopped and the prerecorded voice announced the town of Shimai. Mari suddenly became very interested in her novel as two girls in the grade below her boarded the train.

The taller of the two, a girl with brown hair in a pink hairband, was speaking to Mari.

"Good morning, Mari-tan."

Mari-tan mumbled something, bowing her head and allowing her long dark hair to shield her eyes, if only somehow the gesture would cause her to turn invisible.

"What are you reading, Mari-tan? It looks good, why don't you let me look at it, since I'm sure you've already read it twice and written down all the vocabulary words." The girl boldly snatched the paperback from Mari's hands. "And you still haven't greeted your other friend."

"I'm feeling quite left out now," said a girl with shiny black hair resembling a bowl-cut, but stylishly trimmed. She was shorter than the brunette, and had a medium build. She wore eyeliner and lipstick way to dark for her age, and a yellow barrette in her hair. Both girls had their cool gray pleated skirts hiked up way past the knee.

Mari clenched her fists around her longer gray skirt, without looking up at said in a small voice, "Good morning, Iyashi-san."

"Ugh, what the hell is with all these kanji? No middle-schooler could read this book, what are you even doing at this school? I'll just have to do everyone a favor," the brunette smirked at her victim, as she deposited the two, now separated, halves of the library book back into Mari-tan's lap.

Mari clenched her toes and bit her lip as she tried not to look into the younger girl's eyes. Iyashi giggled as her ponytailed friend pulled Mari's face up by her hair, a satisfied smirk on her face as she knew that Mari would now not make it to her first class without a long trip to the bathroom first. "Now Mari-tan, I've just done you a favor, what do you say?"

"..."

"I said, what do you say Mari-tan?" said the brunette from hell.

"Thank you, Ogino-san."

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><p>Boring Author's Notes:<p>

I came up with the title after writing this chapter, because it made me giggle, and seemed more likely to attract readers than "Spirited Away 2: (Chihiro/Haku)'s (Return/Journey/Angst)". However, I may change it, as I'm not sure exactly how relevant evil Chihiro will be to the plot (if there is even a plot).

The same goes for the rating, which I'm just going ahead and changing to T now, because all the cool fics are T. Also because one of the chapters I wrote is called "Rivers Are The Shit." I'm sorry if there were any 8-year-olds reading. I think my choice in language brings out the desired tone, or something.

I put horror down, because it just seems that a story involving an evil Chihiro and a supernatural/fantasy world could only end up as some sort of cheesy psychological horror attempt, but please don't read into the genre too much, because that too could change. If you're looking for fluff, I'll assure you that I am a C/H shipper, and it will not be denied, but may not be emphasized either.

TL;DR: I'm making shit up as I go.

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><p>This story is a fan-based work, not associated with or sponsored by any Studio Ghibli persons. BTW I don't own Mari either. Cameo win! Read Girlfriends.<p> 


	3. Rivers

Spirited Away Fanfiction

by TASHHHHHH!11

"The Brunette from Hell"

T Rating: for naughty language.

Big note: I'm just bs-ing the geography here, making up mountains, rivers, towns, as I go along. If this conflicts with anything you are familiar about in Japan, just think of it as alternate-universe-spirited-away-fanfiction-Japan. I know an itty bit about the marshy lake chains of boundary waters (between Ontario and Minnesota), so dammit I'm gonna at least _sound_ like I know what I'm talking about! If you are confused, just pretend you aren't so smart, and allow yourself to be awed by my scientific jargon).

Little note: I came up with a lot of exposition, as you can see. Please let me know if it gets too boring, I'll try to break up the explanations. But what else would Kohaku be thinking about right now, really?

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><p>Chapter 2 - Rivers Being Rivers<p>

Kohaku had not been to the human world in over 5 years, and had forgotten what to expect. To exist in that world was quite different than to view it through a paper shikikami. He had crossed the border between the worlds with several goals in mind, but as soon as he arrived, he was yanked on to a course to the northeast. After being away for so long, the pull of the Kohaku River was irresistible and welcoming to its weary guardian spirit. To go anywhere else or attempt to think about any other worldly plans would have required great physical effort.

Through his surveillance he learned what had happened to his river. The flow of water had been dammed where there used to be a natural waterfall. Pipes had been constructed to direct the most underground waterflow to flow underneath the new town section, removing moisture from the soil allowing for solid buildings to stand. The land where the new apartments stood used to be the beginning of the widest point of the Kohaku river. An adjacent river from the same dammed lake source now was much higher. Ironically, his brother river, Shimai Ogawa, had actually benefited from the project that had almost killed Kohaku. The water from the settlement eventually flowed out of the town sewer system, through a pipe, creating a stream which flowed back onto the proper route, and on towards the ocean.

In the morning sky, a white dragon glided blissfully at about 40 km/h (25 mph, or residential street speed), not even bothering to be discreet or worry about being spotted by humans. He carelessly plunged into the water downstream, then went up underground into the piping system, where he sank into a nice dark crevice and proceeded to take the longest nap of his life (not including hibernation).

[1 week later]

Brad the Toad hesitantly tugged on the dragon's whiskers.

"Hey man, you alright?"

"Hrrrmmmmfivemoreminutesgranny..." Kohaku grumbled. He shot up and hit his head on the concrete. "Owww! Huh? Where am I? Oh, right, sewer-river. Hmm?" he looked down and crossed his eyes to see the little creature. "Greetings, Toad."

"Dude, you've been crashed out on this shelf for at least a week."

"Oh, I have?" he said, feeling silly. Kohaku rolled of the shelf, and found that a sheet of algae had grown on the tip of his tail, which floated to the center of the pipe junction, basking in the daily sunlight. He ate it all off. Then he growled because it had tasted bad, but he knew it was good for him, containing lots of omega-3 fatty acids. The toad did not seem to be phased by the dragon. "Well I just got back from the spirit world, and I have not been here in years. I was just basking."

"Oh, wow, you're a spirit?" said Brad, wide-eyed.

Kohaku blinked, not sure if the Toad was kidding or not. "I'm the guardian spirit of this river / water system. Excuse me, but what did you think I was a big dog-faced snake?"

"No, I uh... well yeah I guess you aren't a snake. That's good I guess. Snakes eat toads. What do dragons eat again?"

"Um, well lets see," Kohaku rolled his eyes. "I eat fishies and birdies, and then sometimes... snakes and toads."

"Oh, that's good-hey wait! Don't eat me bro!" Kohaku grinned a mouthful of canine teeth at the dumb little Toad, but let it get away, to leave its fate up to someone else.

Kohaku spent another month working on his river. It was necessary to leave his anger at humans behind for a while and examine his new situation from a purely objective point of view. He had learned from other river spirits that his fate was not all that uncommon in this era. Many spirits that had once reined over babbling brooks now haunted water towers. The shape, and volume of his domain had been altered, but the water still flowed. But the damage to its character was what had hurt the guardian the most. Kohaku had been traumatized so because his river was streamlined at its spiritually strongest point, where the water was still pure from the mountains, but had developed some of its of flavor. He had not understood this 5 years ago, and allowed modernization to break his spirit, nearly killing him. But he had survived, and grown stronger and wiser from the ordeal, and now he knew that the key to moving on was adaption, not self-pity.

After much hard work, the dragon was satisfied for now. He finally allowed himself to turn his attention towards another piece of his heart that had been nagging at him for quite some time.

[Meanwhile...]

It was a beautiful sunshiney day. A few sparse clouds rolled across the distant horizon. Birds chirped, and rodents scampered about. The falling leaves of red and gold settled on the churning coastlines of the winding creek. The creek ran past the schoolyard, creating a border between the trim grass of the playground and the forest preserve. And by the creek at the edge of the schoolyard, a middle-school girl was harassing a smaller child.

"SSHHLLRRRPP!" Chihiro drained the box of juice and burped loudly. "Mmmmm, that was some tasty juice!" She smirked and tossed the purple box into the creek.

"Please stop it, Chihiro-sama!" the boy looked to be about 6 years old. His shiny black hair was cut with straight bangs in the front, and cropped in the back. He wore no shoes or socks, but a loose shirt and cloth-belted shorts made out of fine white cloth. He had a round baby-face, big sea-green eyes, and was totally cute. But at the moment, he was more totally distressed. He hopped up and down trying to reach the lunch bag that Chihiro was holding.

The girl took out a circular plastic package of mandarin oranges, and a plastic fork. She crumpled up the bag in her other hand.

"No, don't!" the boy shrieked. Chihiro held her items away from his grabby hands, and chucked the crumpled brown paper into the water as well.

"Waaah, stop polluting me!" he protested. "You are so disgusting!" Chihiro ignored the helpless little boy and opened the package. She ate the oranges with the fork, then when she was done, she kicked the boy in the stomach. He collapsed on the ground, starting to cry from physical and emotional stress.

"Shut up ya little twerp. I'll put my stuff wherever I want." She turned the plastic container over so that the remaining corn syrup splashed onto the boy's fine hair. She bent down and dangled the fork in front of his face, even though his head was down and his bangs covered his eyes.

"This." the fork was tossed into the stream.

"And this." she threw away the plastic container as well.

"Have you learned your lesson, 'Gawa-chan?"

"Y-yes," he sobbed.

"Excuse me?" she scoffed indignantly.

"Gulp. I m-mean, y-yes Chihiro-sama."

"That's a good boy. Now next time, bring me a real treasure, not a stupid piece of firewood." She bent down and picked up the rejected tribute, a very beautiful, perfectly dried section of twisted birch root, the type of wood that can be polished and carved into a cute little box, or simply displayed for its beauty. She chucked it into the river.

"Well, I'll see you later 'Gawa-chan." Chihiro picked the boy up by the upper arm, and threw him into the water too. Then she clapped her hands together and strolled on home.

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><p>Evil Chihiro returns! She is wicked fun to write. I never realized how cool evil is until I wrote the last two chapters. Good guys require so much finesse and delicacy.<p>

Ok, Here is a serious question to the audience, please tell me your opinion: Should I reveal what's going on with Chihiro soon so we can watch the characters try to figure it out, or should I make it more like a mystery, and only show what is known to Kohaku's team? It's pretty big, but maybe it's not so amazing that if I wait to show it from Kohaku's pov, you'll all be like 'that's it? I read 10 chapters to find THAT out? what a let down!", so maybe i should just do chihiro pov next chapter? what do you think?

tl;dr: omnipresent voice, or Haku-tachi pov?

This is a fan-based story, not affiliated with or sponsored by any persons from Studio Ghibli or the production team of the movie "Spirited Away."


	4. Ice Cream Relapse

Spirited Away Fanfiction

by Tashhhh

so sorry people! This is the real chapter four. If you read the next chapter without reading this one... well I guess you won't miss that much, but read it anyway D:

Also another mistake I noticed is that in the last chapter I pretty much settled on AkuSen going to the local middle school in town, which has the creek running through it. In chapter 2 I had AkuSen and Iyashi getting on a train to commute to a school in the city. Let's just say they were ditching school that day and going downtown for some shopping instead. Which they must do quite often since they have met the same students to pick on more than once, as was implied.

Anyway, without further embarrassment to the author, here is chapter 4, and the next one which I already uploaded is now chapter 5.

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><p>Chapter 4 Ice cream Relapse<p>

Kohaku ducked beneath the trees, then changed into human form in the canopy of the woods. He wandered through the forest in the early evening breeze, following the one scent that stuck out to him. Suddenly, the scent was uninterrupted by forest matter, as Kohaku came across a clearing across river that was small enough to be called a creek, but big enough to be paddled by canoes.

Over by the corner of the block, crossing a street, was a girl that could have been 11 to 14 years old. Her hair was a little lighter than most people in this country, and it was tied up into a ponytail with a small speck of hot pink visible in the distance. She had a long sleeve white shirt, a cream-colored sweater vest with blue trim, and a cool gray skirt that she wore at mid-thigh. Long white socks and sleek black loafers completed the look of the fashionable Japanese middle school girl.

Kohaku was about to run over to her and say hi, when he heard something else. His sensitive ears picked up on a small voice somewhere behind him. It felt like the distress of a spirit so similar to his own, that he could not ignore this call. He growled to himself, annoyed at having to wait to see Chihiro again, but alas duty calls.

He went back near the woods, and wandered along the creek until he saw a small boy sitting on a section of rock on the opposite side, crouched with his head down in his folded arms. Kohaku stepped on a brown paper bag clinging to the bank, as he waded across the river, and then emerged on the other side, using some magic to dry himself off instantly.

Small sobs could be heard from the shaking child. He was also soaking wet head to toe.

Kohaku stepped beside the boy, softly, but not silently, so that he would not startle the poor child.

"Shimai on Ogawanushi," he greeted softly.

The boy raised his tear stained face to look the older guardian in the eyes. "H-Haku-nii?"

"Shi-chan," he replied affectionately, remembering the nicknames they used to use. He knelt down and put his arm around the smaller boy's shoulders, speaking gently. "What are you crying for, Shi-chan? Look how big and beautiful your river has gotten. Look how the insects have gathered, they can't stand to see you like this."

Indeed, there were a dozen small neon lanterns popping on and off around the pair. A frog sat in a crack of mud between two rocks croaking softly. A confused honeybee wandered by and brushed her fuzzy yellow coat against Shimai's white shirt, leaving a little bit of sticky nectar. Well, at least she tried.

Shimai turned and hugged Kohaku tightly. "HAKU-NII! I haven't seen you in forever! Wow, I thought you were dead! Your river is all concrete and caps now."

"I put spells on some of the caps so that humans can't get in," irrelevant as this statement was, it made Shimai giggle. He brightened up while talking to Kohaku.

"Wow, they'll be so pissed! But you're back now, so who needs humans? Where did you go? Where have you been all this time? I missed you, Haku-nii!"

"Heh, slow down little one," said Kohaku. "Come and walk with me." They got up and Kohaku led the younger spirit out of the forest preserve, heading for the ice cream shop in town, which Kohaku had one gotten to know well since his return to the human world.

"When the humans built over my river, the change was such a shock to my spirit that I almost died. I was brought to a bathhouse to recover, but I ended up signing a contract and getting trapped there."

"Aw, that's terrible! What were they thinking? God, I hate humans!" Shimai shouted spitefully.

"Oh, Shi-chan. Humans may be troublesome, but we spirits would not exist without them. Besides, they are no different than every other animal on this earth, trying their best to survive."

They got to the concessions-style ice cream stand, where Shimai got a strawberry scoop with whipped cream on top, and Kohaku ordered cappuccino flavor. In waffle cones, of course. "Also, they invented ice cream. When I got back from the spirit world, I had the biggest junk food binge..."

They both laughed loudly and smiled. Then Shimai continued, "But Kohaku, it seems like some humans are evil for no reason at all. They just torment you and dump crap into your rivers and laugh in your face!"

Kohaku saw right through to the subtext of Shimai's remark. "Alright. Tell me what's going on, Shi-chan."

"A human has been bullying me..." he looked slightly ashamed.

"What? Who has been doing this? I'll definitely help you!" Kohaku growled, while licking off a melting trail.

Haku could not believe Shimai's story without seeing it for himself. He couldn't help imagining how it would have gone if he had ran up and greeted Chihiro like he originally intended, and was now very glad that Shimai had distracted him.

The next day, he observed quietly, using various bits of magic here and there to help remain invisible to Chihiro, as he watched her throughout the school day. Indeed, it was true. The kind brave little girl had been replaced by some kind of awful demon. But this human still looked, sounded and smelled so precisely like Chihiro, and even though it was completely out of character, it's personality somehow resembled the darker sides of the good Chihiro. For a second Kohaku thought maybe there was nothing wrong with her and she had just gone bad, but he refused to believe it. There had to be some sort of explanation, and he would find out what was going on.

After a while he got frustrated with thinking "evil chihiro, good chihiro," all the time, he decided to reserve Chihiro's name for her real self, and came up with the name "AkuSen" to describe this new personality.

He growled in frustration to himself as he went flying in the night to relieve the stress. Why do these problems happen to him? He was a powerful river spirit and he had a dragon form and tons of magic at his disposal. Why couldn't his problems be things that he could bite in half or blow up? The wind howled frustration, and a certain devilish girl shrieked in annoyance, running home as she was suddenly pelted with rain.

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><p>This is a fan-based work which is not affiliated with Studio Ghibli, and not published to any commercial ends.<p> 


	5. Uotaa Emburemu: Akusen no Nazo

Spirited Away fanfiction

by TASHHHHH!

T rating for grown-up words; if you're under 13, pretend not to read them.

This isn't bloody enough for horror. I don't know what it is... drama? adventure?

Hey look, a story that uses Chihiro's parents as something other than an obstacle that needs to be heavily bullshitted in order to keep them from putting her in a mental institution! I'm proud to say it's mine :D

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><p>Chapter 4: Uotaa Emburemu: AkuSen no Nazo<p>

Ogino Yuuko woke up at 4:30 am, got dressed, and quietly walked downstairs to the kitchen. She pulled a tub of powdered mix from a high shelf, some milk and eggs from the fridge, and set up the griddle to preheat. She knew the smell would rouse the other two members of the household soon, so she hurried to set the table. The pancakes on the stove were about ready to flip, but then Yuuko heard a stick crack and a small scuffing noise outside the kitchen window.

She nervously walked over to the window to the side of the table against the wall. Opening it, and looking around, but nothing was there. Inwardly she chastised herself for her childish imagination. She suddenly realized the pancakes were about to burn! She turned around and hurried across the room, but AkuSen chose that moment to walk into the kitchen and smell the burnt pancakes as well.

"I rise, I wash, I brush, and she greets me with BURNT CRAP FOR BREAKFAST!" Yuuko gasped and hurried to start new pancakes. "I-I-I'm sorry, I'll make some new ones immediately."

The older woman had barely managed to stop herself from bowing to her daughter in apology. At this verbal abuse, her face turned a deep red color, and she did her best to cook with the added stress. She occasionally peeked up in fear, but AkuSen was now busy going through Yuuko's purse. Yuuko said nothing as the girl took her pick of the various bills in the wallet.

AkuSen walked through the house, ready to go with all her school things on, including her outdoor shoes. She walked up to the stove and Yuuko stepped back obediently. She grabbed the spatula roughly, took all four of the cakes on the pan, and left the house quickly, happily avoiding Yuuko's husband.

Yuuko sighed in relief, and started to feel again like a human being, instead of an overworked horse. Her expression became one of grief, she stared at the counter aimlessly. The previous encounter with Chihiro having spoiled her appetite, she closed her eyes and tried to calm down, until she heard socked footsteps, and soon after found herself in a larger man's embrace.

She leaned her head to the side to rest on his arms. "Akio..." she breathed in comfort. "What are we going to do, Akio?" she started to cry the tears she had been trying to hold back. Akio didn't have an easy solution, and wished he could say something in comfort, but he had no idea what, so he took over the pancakes and started cooking for his wife while looking at her tenderly, silently encouraging her to express herself.

"Just now she left and took some money from my purse. I couldn't say anything to stop her. I have never felt so scared before, Akio! I've heard stories about parents abusing their children, but... I feel like I am being abused! It scares me to say it, but she's going to get in real trouble soon. Even though she's our daughter, she is who she is, but if we can't get her to change... oh dear, we'll lose her! She's getting worse, Akio!"

Akio set their breakfast out on the plates that were already on the table. "She's on the edge. Every day now, I wonder if it's the day when she will raise her hand against her own parents."

"Well, she's already raised her hand to another child."

"What? I didn't hear about that?" Akio's expression darkened, but he dipped a chunk of cake into some syrup and ate it. Yuuko's appetite had returned, now that the food had been remedied with the love of a husband, and took his cue to start eating as well.

"Well I got the call last night, but I didn't want to worry you. I have to tell you of course."

"It's alright, Yuuko, please tell me."

"I got a call... from the parent of another child. It was a man named Morinaka Kenta. He said, he said that Chihiro has beaten up his son. According to his son, she forced him to bring gifts to her, and when she didn't like them, she punched the boy and later vandalized their home."

"My god! We should be getting complaints from the police! That is, if they aren't already on their way here!"

Just then a knock on the door scared the couple out of their wits. The knocking continued while Yuuko and Akio nervously looked at each other. Before a round of "you-go-get-it" could begin, Akio got up and went to open the door. He looked through the peephole first, and then looked at Yuuko. "It's not the police. It's a couple of children."

Yuuko curiously walked up to the door. Akio opened it. There were two boys.

"Good morning, Ogino-san," the older of the two spoke to him politely. "We're sorry for disturbing you so early in the morning, even before the sun has risen. However, we had to wait until your daughter left, and then talk to you before you could leave for work."

Akio was impressed by the boy's manners and answer him likewise, "Well, would you like to come in and have some breakfast while we discuss whatever it is?" He was suspicious that this might have something to do with Yuuko's phone call, and so was inclined to make a good first impression with the strange children.

"Thank you very much, Ogino-san. We will come in." They sat down at the table and Akio got them some plates and utensils.

"I'll get right to the point then. I am the one who called you last night. Morinaka Kenta was just a made up name. As you can see I am clearly not this boy's father."

"Hi, I'm Shimai! AkuSen beat me up." Shimai replied with a grin that didn't match his statement.

"AkuSen?" they asked.

"Oh," replied Shimai. "It's our new name for the evil Chihiro. Kohaku says she's a kind person, so I believe him, and we don't like to use our friend's name for her."

Yuuko replied, "But why AkuSen? What about AkuChi?"

"AkuChi means 'impure blood'," explained Kohaku.

Akio thought a moment. "And you thought 'ill-gotten money was more fitting?'"

Yuuko said, "Well, I am so sorry for my daughter's actions! What can we do for your kids? And do your parents know you are over here?"

"Please calm down, Ogino-san. You are not in any sort of trouble. We are not involving the police with this. You see, we are not merely victims in the situation. I am an old friend of Chihiro's, and I have known her since before she became... like this. I do not know whether or not she has ever told you about me, and I don't think she should know that we are meeting. My real name is Kohaku."

Yuuko and Akio looked at each other. Akio replied, "no we've never heard of you. What is your last name? And your family? You two are brothers? And Shimai, isn't that's the name of this town?"

"Slow down, we'll get to all that, one at a time. I promise I'll tell you as much as I can, but I need you guys to do the same if we're going to get to the bottom of this. Any little details could help, because at this point we know very little."

"We're gonna be detectives!" Shimai announced.

"Well," said Yuuko "We should take some notes like good detectives, there's so much new information going around."

"I'll tell you about how I first met Chihiro. Please just hold your questions until the end. I know there are parts of it you won't believe, but I can prove it to you, so just let me finish."

Kohaku started by explaining that he was a river spirit, not a human. Then he told them the story of how he saved Chihiro from drowning when she was four.

"Ummm..." said Akio. "Hmmmm" said Yuuko. Shimai sighed, "I'll go make some tea."

The four sat there for several, very awkward minutes until. Shimai handed Akio a cup of hot tea, and he sipped some, which seemed to start his brain working again.

"You're right. I have no idea what you're talking about. If you're a river I'm a volcano." he joked quietly.

"And I'm a dragon," said Kohaku. Akio laughed, then realized Kohaku wasn't joking. Both adults started at him in disbelief. "Aw... Is this gonna end with me transforming in the living room?"

"Yep," said Shimai.

"Dragon rides for all?"

"Probably."

Well, Chihiro's parents thought Kohaku's dragon form was the most awesome thing ever. He was very relieved when they finally stopped acting like teenage fangirls and put the focus back on the matters at hand. At this point they readily accepted that Shimai was also a river spirit. Although he was not a dragon, they still thought he was cool because he was so adorable.

Yuuko and Akio called in to their workplaces, deciding that the crisis with their daughter was far more important, and a day could be sacrificed.

Next, Kohaku turned to question the parents about Chihiro/AkuSen.

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><p>explanation of japanese jokes: Title is a reference to the game title "fire emblem: monshou no nazomystery of the emblem". AkuSen and AkuChi if you don't get the meanings, look them up on WWWJDIC. click the checkbox for romaji search if you don't have japanese typing.

Shimai is written 姉妹 it means "sisters" (even tho Shi's a boy lol). AkuSen's pet name for him "'gawa-chan" comes from the word ogawa 小川, which means a creek, or a small river. AkuSen looks like 悪千

To my epic reviewers: Hope you guys don't die of suspense while I get the next few chapters up. I think i'll reveal what happened to Chihiro probably in the chapter after the next, so that I can get going and hike up the action a bit. Thanks for reading btw ^^

This story is a fan-based work, not affiliated with studio Ghibli or any of the production team of the movie Spirited Away, not published for any commercial purpose.


	6. Chihiro

Spirited Away Fanfiction

by Tashhhh!

This is kind of a twisted interpretation of the last scene in Spirited Away.

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><p>Chapter 6 - Chihiro<p>

Two years and three months ago, Chihiro parted with Kohaku and ran across the empty river bed. She looked up in surprise as she heard her mom's voice, and was so relieved to see both her parents across the field in front of her, waving with completely human arms.

"Mom, Dad!" she exclaimed. "You shouldn't run off like that, honey," Yuuko said softly. "You could get in big trouble," Akio half-joked.

"Are you guys sure you're alright?"

"Let's go! I don't want to miss the movers." said Yuuko. Chihiro realized they must not remember being pigs, just as they hadn't remembered being human as pigs.

Then something weird happened. An odd foreboding registered in Chihiro's mind. She wanted nothing more than to follow her parents through the tunnel, but there was something amiss. She tried to shake it off, but the feeling only heightened as she stared at the dark tunnel, which seemed almost _too_ welcoming, like she was being baited somehow. Chihiro suddenly felt like running back to Kohaku _right now_ would be a very good idea. But she had no logical basis for this premonition, and she trusted him with all her heart, so she caught herself before she turned around, and went for it.

The parents went back to their car, daughter following in tow. The adults sat down in the front seats. Chihiro was standing in front of the hood of the car, which looked just the way they left it. Now that Chihiro was finally on the other side, having obeyed Kohaku's words, she looked back at the archway.

She screamed more loudly than she had ever screamed in her entire life. The little statue was gone... along with the stone tunnel, the forest, and the rest of the world! It was as if the entire world about 3 feet in front of where Chihiro was standing, and everything past that line of longitude had fallen out of existence. There was nothing to see but endless blue sky. If she had dared to walk a little closer and look to the side, she would have seen the wall of severed terrain extending all the way up the earth, and trees falling into the abyss.

Chihiro's hands were shaking, and her feet were glued in place. She screamed again and forced herself to move, bolting back to the car, which was already running and turned around, waiting for her to get in it. She jumped into the back seat, and yelled at her parents.

"Oh my god, did you guys see that? What the hell is going on?" the car was already driving back down the dirt road. Chihiro was panicking, but her parents were as calm as ever.

"What are you going on about now?" her mom asked with an irritated tone, as if Chihiro had just complained about her flower bouquet again. "Um... panicking? Am I going crazy? Did you guys not see that giant pit back there? You must have seen it in the rearview mirror, or do you not use that anymore?"

"You cut out that strong language this instant, Chihiro!" said Chihiro's dad. "Sit down, buckle up and be quiet" he said coldly.

Chihiro gasped and stopped yelling at them, but inside she was freaking out even more. Chihiro looked out the rear window again, and was trying to see the cliff again, but suddenly the car jerked and she tumbled across the seat, bumping her head on the window.

"Oww.." she groaned. "What did I tell her," her dad muttered under his breath. Chihiro almost felt like crying, at this point, but then she noticed another anomaly. Although she had spent a few weeks in the Spirit World, she remembered the part before about the blue house they were moving to being just up the hill from the wrong turn they had taken (the house which was probably teetering on the edge of the world, if it hadn't fallen off all together).

However, they were passing cross street after cross street, now entering a highway, continuing down a winding eastbound road, with no sign of going back up there. Chihiro was still upset by her parents unusually cold demeanor, but asked anyway.

"Um," she cleared her throat. Neither adult answered. She tried again, less subtly. "Where are we going?" she demanded, clearly and not whiny.

The woman looked at her, and then looked back ahead, not responding.

Chihiro was angry now. "Hey, I asked a question here! The blue house was just up the hill on the next cross street from the one we accidentally turned on, remember?"

Her mom sighed as if she wanted to say something, but was trying her best to ignore the girl.

"Where are we going? Answer me!" Chihiro asked, starting to panic again. "This isn't funny you guys! I know I was a little whiny before, but this is really freaking me out! Please tell me what's going on!"

"CHIHIRO!" the father boomed, startling her again. "Just... please just go to sleep or something. I'm sorry. I'll explain when we get there." Chihiro was out of emotional juice, and exhausted, she gave in and lay down, crying until she fell asleep. Before she fell asleep, Kohaku's face flashed in her mind, and she thought about how he had tried so hard to help her and how nice it would be if he would catch up with their car and grab her out of the window.

Chihiro's eyelids flickered open. The natural light was dimmer when Chihiro woke up in the evening. She turned her neck to either side, then up and down, attempting to stretch out the soreness that had developed while sleeping across the backseat. Her parents were still happily ignoring her. They didn't seem to notice or care when she woke up. She thought of trying again, but didn't know what to say. She scootched over to the other side of the car, kneeled on the seat, and stared out the window. They were driving on some winding mountain highway. The side of the highway was railed for safety, and the view was pretty neat. Chihiro occupied herself with studying the shapes of the shadows cast by the setting sun and the various buildings, trees, and hills in the valley below.

Chihiro felt her eyelids start to droop again, when she looked up suddenly at the jerk of the vehicle. She gasped in horror. Her father had fallen asleep at the wheel! She yelled, and tried to lean forward to grab the wheel, but it was too late and the car barreled straight ahead, off the road at a section that had no rail. Chihiro screamed as the car tumbled down the steep mountain side.

At the foot of the mountain, a car lay on its side, the ceiling and the exposed side caved in, broken glass everywhere. In the back seat, Chihiro struggled in vain to keep breathing through her crushed lungs as her blood ran in streams down the polyester seats. Her heart finally slowed to a stop.

Chihiro felt the pain in her body fade, and when she came to, she was standing once again at in front of the car, the rest of the world missing behind her. But she paid the abyss no mind, and quietly got into the car and buckled her seat belt. The car crash was the best way to go. She could never live past sunset, and if she died earlier, she would just be stuck with the feeling of dying in whatever way it was for several hours until the world reset itself again. Of course she had tried to evade her fate and escape this strange hell. She had tried everything she could think of, over and over again, thousands of times. She had kept hoping for Kohaku to rescue her long after she had given up on herself. But eventually she stopped.

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><p>oh noez, infinite loop of pain<p>

This is a fan-based work of the movie Spirited Away. Not affiliated with Studio Ghibli, or used for any commercial purpose.


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